Man charged with suffocation murder of Dixon woman

DIXON -- Authorities in Dixon say they have charged a former resident with first-degree murder in the suffocation of a 35-year-old woman found dead in her home last week.

Dixon Police Chief Dan Langloss said Wednesday that 51-year-old Byron E. Adams was being held in the Lee County Jail on $1.5 million bond after being charged in a warrant Tuesday night with first-degree murder.

Langloss said police arrested Adams in Chicago on Sunday after surveillance videotapes showed that he was in the vicinity when the victim's purse was tossed into a trash bin.

Employees of a nearby store found the purse, and police attempting to return it to its owner, Margaret Atherton, found her dead.

A funeral was held Wednesday for Atherton, who was the mother of three young daughters.